Community says ‘bye’ to bobby as he heads into retirement

A well known Huntingdonshire police officer has retired after serving for more than 20 years in the force.

Andy Street, a sergeant in the local policing team for St Ives and Ramsey, celebrated his last day as part of Cambridgeshire Constabulary on his 55th birthday.

Members of the Ramsey and St Ives community gathered for a dinner in Needingworth on July 18 at the Pike and Eel, to thank Mr Street for his service.

The dinner, which was hosted by the Community Roadwatch team, was held to thank the retired police officer for his 28 years in the force and especially for the last five years where he was a member of the St Ives and Ramsey policing team.

Mr Street, who lives in Somersham, said: “It’s been a real honour to be able to do this job for so long. There are some things that I will definitely miss about it, however I won’t miss the paperwork.

“I started off working in Cambridge for 10 years, and then I moved to the Fens for four years as a community officer, and then got involved with the drugs intervention programme, which is run by the police. I then moved to work within St Ives and Ramsey for the past five years.

“As the job progressed there was a lot more technology and paperwork involved in the job and I did find it hard to keep up.

“I am now about a month into my retirement and really enjoying it. In the last five years of my job it was really important for me to engage with the community to make sure that they felt safe, and that was something I enjoyed.”

At the meeting, Mr Street was presented with a pen, personalised truncheon and a personalised box to keep it in.

David McCandless, managing director of Community Roadwatch, presented Mr Street with the gifts.

He said: “He did a lot to help keep our community safe and we wanted to thank him for everything he has done for us. The evening was a great way to say goodbye and he seemed to really like our gifts.”